The Skinny on Skinny Bastard from a Skinny Guy

by Rebeca on April 25, 2009

For some time now I’ve been obsessed to getting down to my svelte 125 pounds, and I figured that maybe I was missing something in the calories in/calories out equation. Reading positive reviews about Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, I went ahead and downloaded it from Audible.com to my iPod and listened to it when I took my dogs out for their walk.

Did I find that secret to slimming down? No. In fact, I think I got about halfway through the book and gave up out of boredom. There’s not much I can recall except that the tone is snarky and the authors enjoy cussin’ like sailors.

Did I miss the point? No. I know it was a gimmick. But from someone who used to be very thin (and battled for most of her life to gain weight) and who wanted to lose the extra pounds, I really didn’t want to have these very unfunny women beat me up about my eating or exercise habits. I already do that to myself. I know I eat crap, I know that I sit in front of the computer too much and don’t move my ass as much as I should. I wanted some fun motivation to get me back on track and laugh my way back to slimming down.

Now the Skinny Bitch authors have written a book geared for men, Skinny Bastard. According to the New York Times the same “tough-love message of the original book will translate to men who want to lose weight and “get ripped.” and, “follows roughly the same outline as “Skinny Bitch,” with the language retooled to appeal to male psychology. Whereas the introduction to “Skinny Bitch” reads, “If you can’t take one more day of self-loathing, you’re ready to get skinny,” the men’s version does not assume low self-esteem: “Chances are, you haven’t done so badly, despite the few extra lbs you’re carting around. … But don’t kid yourself, pal: A hot-bodied man is a head-turner.”

I can’t predict how well this book will sit with men (or sell) but I went ahead and asked my husband for his opinion and he said, “If your choice is a lot of skinny bitches and bastards or pleasant fat people, I’ll take the latter.”

I’m with your husband. Extravagant people with interesting personalities are much preferable to self-centered mega-hunks and super-goddesses. Most of the physically “Beautiful” women I am acquainted with are quick to remind me just how beautiful they are, either by hinting at it verbally or by the way they constantly pose themselves. They seem to believe that perfect physical attributes are a substitute for a personality.

Gong! How wrong they are.

SuperGoddesses are usually SuperBitches. And MegaHunks are MachoRectums.

Most diet books, in my not very humble opinion, are nothing more than Snake Oil.